


Stars

by Rina_san28



Series: Pride Month 2018 [8]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Baby Hobbits, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Post-War of the Ring, Stars, pride 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 10:33:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14892971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rina_san28/pseuds/Rina_san28
Summary: A moment of peace on a visit to the Shire.Written for Pride Month 2018 Day 9: Stars





	Stars

**Author's Note:**

> This one is a little bit late, but today was my dance recital. I have been wearing a leotard and tights for 16 hours and my feet are about to fall off. The things we do for love.

Gimli stood in the doorway of the smial, puffing on his pipe as he took in the peaceful scene before him. It was one of the rare times when his and Legolas’s wanderings had led them to the Shire, where their beloved hobbit friends welcomed them with warm food and warmer smiles. It was a clear night, clear enough that every star in the sky could be seen twinkling away, bright even to the dullest of eyes. His husband, ever popular among the fauntlings, was laying in the grassy field beyond with the dozen and some children their friends had produced so far.

 

“That one, there, my brothers used to tell me was a great sky-dragon,” Legolas was saying, and one of Sam’s little girls let out a gasp. “It isn’t, of course,” he hastened to reassure her, “but I was very young and my brothers were very silly.”

 

“I would never do that to my siblings!” came a yell. “That’s mean!”

 

“You’re boring, Frodo!” came another. “I don’t have any, but I’d do it!”

 

“Children,” Pippin snorted, startling Gimli, who hadn’t heard the hobbit approach. “That little monster’s my Faramir. He wonders why he doesn’t have siblings.” He held out a hand and Gimli obligingly passed over his pipe.

 

“It’s been over twenty years since we set out, and I still have a hard time seein’ you as an adult with responsibilities,” he said teasingly. “You were a little scamp of a thing! Tacklin’ Boromir ‘round the legs, eatin’ all the wheybread…”

 

“Throwing skeletons down wells in unfriendly places,” Pippin said. He laughed and returned the pipe. “I wasn’t even of age yet, really. I had no business being there with you.”

 

“It wouldn’t have been the same, friend,” Gimli said, settling a firm arm around the other’s shoulders. “Many would have been lost if not for you! Faramir, Merry – even Legolas and myself, if not to battle, then surely to grief and fear.”

 

“Come off it, I was a demon!”

 

“What do you mean, ‘was,’ Pip?” Frodo said, joining the conversation with a drink in hand. “You and Merry still hold the Shire in terror, with him as a mayor and yourself as the thain!”

 

“Ahh, now Mister Frodo,” Pippin said. “I have worthy successors in mischief approaching, but they are young yet! Faramir’s partners in crime still have very early bedtimes.”

 

“So you will admit that it is a crime?” Frodo said, a triumphant smirk on his face.

 

“I said no such thing!” Pippin posed dramatically, and Gimli shook his head in amusement.

 

“Laddie, I’ve been raisin’ a nephew of my own, an’ he’s long been known as the terror of Erebor!” Gimli said to Frodo. “I know terror…” he shot Pippin a grin, “…and here we stand with one of its hobbit vessels!”

 

“Hey now, you were supposed to be on my side!” Pippin protested as Frodo and Gimli laughed at him. “Hm, I know where my revenge must come from! Legolas!” he called.

 

“Pippin, your guilt and Merry’s together shine brighter than the stars of Anarrima,” Legolas said serenely, and the children all giggled as Pippin let out an indignant squawk.

 

“He has the right of it, Pip,” Sam said, and Gimli moved aside to let him out. “Come on, littleuns!” he shouted to the group in the grass, and up rose a groan of epic proportions. “None of that, now! Uncle Gimli and Uncle Legolas will still be here in the morning! Perhaps if good fauntlings hurry to bed, there’ll be honeycakes for first breakfast tomorrow!”

 

 _“Honeycakes!”_ Never had children moved faster. Legolas was left laying on the grass, baby Primrose snoozing away on his chest. Gimli looked on with fondness as the girl’s father carefully retrieved her and took her off to her own bed.

 

“I’ll join you lot in a moment,” he whispered. Pippin nodded and followed to wrangle his own son.

 

Gimli walked across the road to where his husband still lay, gazing up into the night. “What pretty things are you looking at up there, _ghivashelé?”_

 

Legolas smiled lazily. “It is an interesting star, indeed,” he said, “a red one, with twinkling eyes and warm hands.”

 

“You old sap,” he said, but settled down on the grass nonetheless, pressed shoulder to shoulder with his elf. He chose a random light and pointed to a random light. “What’s that one?”

 

“Morwinyon,” Legolas answered, “Varda’s beautiful accident.”

 

“And that?”

 

“Helluin. If you follow it,” he said, gesturing to a trail of stars, “you find the constellation Telumendil.”

 

Gimli squinted up, then pointed a final time, up at one of the very brightest stars in sight. “What’s this one, then?”

 

“That would be Earendil, one of the Simarils which tore our people apart,” Legolas said softly. He took Gimli’s hand in his own. “It is far, far away now, _meleth nîn._ It is not a master of us any longer.”

 

Gimli squeezed his hand and let the peaceful silence reign once more.

**Author's Note:**

> There are some fun little tidbits in here! 
> 
> 1\. The mentioned children are Pippin's son, Faramir Took I, and two of Sam's thirteen (!!) children. Those children, known as the Gardners rather than the Gamgees, were Elanor the Fair, Frodo, Rose, Merry, Pippin (what was he thinking lol), Goldilocks, Hamfast, Daisy, Primrose, Bilbo, Ruby, Robin, and Tolman. At the point this story is set, Primrose is the youngest. 
> 
> 2\. Why did I choose Gimli and Legolas for this? Not only do elves have a Thing for Stars, but Gimli's name translates to "star"...which feeds right back into Legolas's Thing for Stars, I suppose. 
> 
> 3\. The constellation Legolas compares Merry and Pippin to is suggested to be our Gemini. 
> 
> 4\. The final "star" Gimli points out is actually Venus, which was named after the Roman goddess of love. 
> 
> 5\. The other two stars, Morwinyon and Helluin, are our Arcturus and Sirius, respectively. The constellation of Telumendil is thought to be the modern-day Boötes. 
> 
> I'm rina-san 28 on Tumblr! Come say hi!


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